I had a little sad moment this week about my living room carpet. You know how you can get sometimes, where you focus on one random thing and let it really bug you?

“Waaah!” I wailed. (Not out loud, but in my head for sure.) “I hate this carpet! My living room is never going to look pretty with this carpet in in!”

I have to check myself, as I once went a little bit mad over a bad carpet, and had to move house. It’s good to keep perspective.

To cheer myself up, I made a Pinterest board full of lovely pictures of living rooms and velvet sofas and wooden tables. This is exactly how my own living room would look if it wasn’t for the carpet obviously.

Casa Bella Pinterest View Post

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Would you rather have flowers or chocolates delivered to your door?

It’s a bit of a different dilemma to those posed by John Burningham isn’t it? Did you read that book as a child? Would you rather be embarrassed by your dad coming to school and dancing in front of your friends or by your mum having a row in a cafe? Would you rather live with a gerbil in a cage or a fish in a bowl?

I’m not asking you to cover yourself in jam or spend the night in a haunted house to enter, all you have to do is do your thing with the Rafflecopter widget at the bottom of the post. You know the drill.

The prize is your choice of either a rose basket or a chocolate hamper. I know, I spoil you don’t I? View Post

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I have to be totally honest and say that I only came across the British Summer Time Hyde Park festival very recently, but blimey, what a line up! It’s ten days of absolutely amazing stuff, from Taylor Swift to Blur, Kylie to The Who. Seriously, it looks immense. There’s loads of free events happening too, so do take a look.

On the final day, June 28th, there’s a special family event with an equally impressive collection of family friendly acts and entertainers. The day includes the legendary Justin Fletcher, aka Mr Tumble, TV favourites Dick and Dom, boy band Union J, the hilarious Horrible Histories and loads more.

Union J at BST Hyde Park festival View Post

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I saw some people out at the weekend in t-shirts, which means it’s time to start thinking about summer festivals – hoorah!

This year we are off to Standon Calling. We’ve never been before, although it’s been going for ten years now, and it looks pretty cool – a perfect summer escape for festival-lovers and families alike, offering an intimate three day celebration of renowned and upcoming acts, art, comedy, fancy dress for all, the hilarious Standon Dog Show(!), workshops, family entertainment and of course its own heated outdoor swimming pool! I can safely say I have never been to a festival and packed my swimming costume before!

Set in the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside from 31st July – 2nd August the festival has already announced a plethora of unmissable acts including a UK Festival Exclusive from The Dandy Warhols, Little Dragon, Basement Jaxx, Ella Eyre Roots Manuva.  View Post

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Today my blog is five years old. Can you even believe it? In internet years that makes it about 27.

Five years ago today* I was living in Bridgwater, a single mummy to a 14 and a 7 year old, having recently quit a full-time job I hated to work for myself. It was pretty scary but I had a desk I had bought on ebay for ten pounds and a nice little office space at home, so as far as I was concerned I was good to go. Who needs relevant experience or qualifications when you have a nice white desk and a wall full of inspirational postcards?

A lot has happened in the last five years including three house moves, one child leaving home, becoming gay and changing her mind again, various men putting in appearances, including one with an unsightly mole, a trip to Ethiopia, attempts at skiing, a milkshake in a diner in Arkansas, over 35,000 tweets and very nearly 1,000 blog posts. This one is number 979 I think.

That’s a lot of words.

I really can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am for you continuing to read; sometimes I feel I’ve been suitably witty and entertaining, sometimes I’m a bit melancholy and often times just a bit boring. That’s a probably a pretty fair reflection of life as a working single parent though.

As a thank you for hanging on in there I thought I’d hold a little giveaway and what better prize than something that has remained a constant in my life during these five years of change – gin and chocolate.

Hoorah!

*refills ice tray expectantly*

The chocolate for your prize has been kindly donated by Mackie’s and the gin comes to you courtesy of ME as I couldn’t get any gin brands on Twitter to give me any freebies in the two days between deciding to do a birthday competition and hitting publish. I actually went to Tesco and bought a bottle with my own money, that’s how grateful I am to you for you reading.**

And there you were thinking I never paid for anything.

gin competition

Mackie's chocolate(If you win you definitely need to fan out the bars like this and crumble a bit of chocolate next to them seductively.)

To enter just have a fiddle with the Rafflecopter widget below before Big Ben chimes midnight at the end of 2014.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*My first ever blog post includes an interesting comment from ‘Boz’.

**Definitely don’t think of this as a bribe. It’s just an innocent thank you…

 

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Now I’m not saying I want another baby, I promise I’m not, but I do miss buying adorable baby stuff, especially with Christmas coming. Things are just so much cuter when they are small and squishy aren’t they? A pair of jeans for a 12 year old really isn’t the same as a velvety soft pair of dunagrees in size 0-3 months.

*sigh*

In lieu of my own bundle of writhing, screaming, never-let-go-of-your-nipple joy then, I am going to live vicariously through you reader and assume that you have someone small in your life to buy gifts for. And where will you buy said gifts from?

Lucy and Belle of course.

Lucy and Belle

Lucy and Belle is a lovely new site full of fabulous gifts for babies and generally small personages – it’s all things adorable, luxurious and velvety soft. Seriously, I challenge you to put a baby in these rabbit booties and not want to gobble them up on the spot. View Post

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I entered a competition this week with Photoworld. It wasn’t so much the cool prizes that attracted me, as the excuse to have a little sit down and look through my photo albums. The competition has a different theme every week – this week it’s ‘friends’, next week is ‘travel’ and the week of October 6th is ‘celebration’.

I had a look through the albums and picked out a picture for every theme, to help get you in the mood.

Friends

We moved about quite a lot when I was younger, so my oldest friends only date back to when I was about 14 years old. I have a close family, so I have them for my pre-teenage memories, but I’ve always thought it must be nice to have friends that you’ve known since you were really small.

In the spirit of living through your children, I’ve made sure that Belle has friends like this. It was hard to do for Bee, as I was so young that I didn’t really have friends with children, but when Belle was about four weeks old I went along to a breastfeeding group and introduced her to some other babies.

This is Belle, right, with her friend Ella, left. I love the look on Ella’s face, it’s a sort of mix of admiration – Belle is a few weeks older after all – and mild envy. Ella looks like she thinks Belle definitely has the best toy.

Friends photo competition Photoworld

We now live in Ella’s old house and Belle is still friends with Ella and her younger sister Josie. In fact, Ella is the one in the glasses in Belle’s Vertbaudet video last week. View Post

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I’ve not had a competition for a little while so I’m really pleased to have this awesome one to offer you, from the very lovely independent retailer The Dressing Room. The prize up for grabs is £200 to spend on their Becksondergaard range, which includes gorgeous scarves, bags, gloves, belts and purses – lovely stuff that is guaranteed to glam up any outfit.

Obviously my first thought when running competitions like this is ‘Damn it, why can’t I enter?’ as I could really do with some nice accessories. When I went for dinner with my new boyfriend a couple of weeks ago I had to borrow a bag from Belle. (Don’t tell him.)

The Dressing Room

The Collector’s Club

If you’re a fan of the brand, you may also be interested to hear about the Becksondergaard Collector’s Club. Collect a stamp for every £25 you spend and you’ll get a free £15 voucher when you have ten.

The Dressing Room

To be in with a chance to win, get stuck into the Rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

Sponsored post

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I’m a big fan of festivals. Over the years we’ve been to plenty and always had a fantastic time, even when the weather has been a little on the inclement side.

Bee has always been able to rock a festival hat.

festival competitionThe secret of enjoying a festival is to be prepared, which is why I’m pointing you in the direction today of an awesome competition from Complete Savings, to win a complete festival survival kit!

In your kit you get:

  • A tent (very important)
  • Two sleeping bags
  • Two sleeping mats
  • Six glowsticks
  • Extra festival essentials to make your stay go smoothly

Not a bad prize bundle right?

To enter, simply pop over to the Complete Savings blog, tell them your festival essential, tweet about the competition and follow Complete Savings on Twitter. It’s all laid out nice and easy for you – it couldn’t be simpler.

Our festival essentials are toilet paper, wipes, sun lotion, lip balm, a water bottle and a wad of cash. And of course a funky featival hat. What are your festivals essentials?

Sponsored post

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OK, so there’s a bit more to it than that. You can’t just chat to me in the street and have me hand over a hamper or anything, but it’s actually not much more complicated.

On June 18th I will be co-hosting a Twitter party with Gocompare.com to talk about holidays, insurance and travelling with kids. With 18 years of ‘are we there yet?’ experience under my belt I will hopefully be able to provide some top tips on the travel front, while Gocompare.com will have their very own travel insurance expert and an independent research company on hand to answer any questions more technical than ‘what snacks shall I pack for minimum car seat stainage?’

Gocompare Twitter party

Taking part couldn’t be simpler, just follow me – @mummyblogger – and @Gocompare, and join us at 8pm on June 18th, using the hashtag #gocomoneytalks. We’ll be giving away two £50 Boots vouchers during the chat, but there is also the opportunity to win prizes before the chat even starts – simply send your questions in advance via Twitter (don’t forget to tag @mummyblogger and @Gocompare and to use the hashtag) and you could win one of four £20 Boots vouchers.

And before you ask, I’m afraid I don’t know how to get small children to enjoy long car journeys.

See you on the 18th!

For full T&Cs please see here. This is a sponsored post.

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Yours Truly Organics gift set competition

 

Do you know someone who deserves a treat? Maybe it’s you! Maybe you’re sick of ferrying kids to and from after school clubs they don’t even really enjoy and cooking meals that get scowled at, and you need an excuse to escape to the bathroom.

You need this fabulous gift set from Yours Truly Organics.

Quite frankly I could do with this prize – now I’m over the initial heart-breaking part of my recent break-up I need to start thinking about moving on to the face-mask stage, where you reconnect with yourself and all that gubbins, but I’m not allowed to enter. Boo.

It’s a lovely prize though. Take a look at what you get:

Take it Away! – Gel Cleanser enriched with vitamin C and sandalwood oil, this cleanser will remove impurities from the skin’s surface whilst maintaining its natural elasticity. Leaving your skin feeling soft and clean.

Balancing Toner – Return your skin to its optimal pH level with this toner and improve its ability to absorb moisture. Witch hazel and aloe vera soothe and repair the skin’s surface. Perfect for use on the face and neck.

Fix Me! Repairing Serum – Smooth, repair and tighten your skin with this oat kernel enriched serum. Reduce inflammation caused by blemishes with sesame seed extract and saw palmetto.

Face Base Face Balm – This face balm is highly moisturising and acts as a great base for makeup application. Formulated with pea extract to improve elasticity and regulate your skin’s sebum production and daisy flower extract that will brighten your skin’s complexion this face balm will help you look and feel your best.

To enter, simply complete as many of the Rafflecopter actions below as possible. The competition will close at midnight June 10th. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Win competitions at ThePrizeFinder.com

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post

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Skogstad outdoor clothes for kids competition

I have been thinking a lot lately about the idea of ‘flow’; that elusive state of mind that it’s possible to get into where time passes without you even noticing it because you are so absorbed in what you are doing.

It doesn’t happen to me a great deal to be honest – I have an amazing ability to guess the time to an astonishing degree of accuracy* – and it’s something I always wish would happen more. I suspect it may be a bit like trying to remember your dreams though, the more you struggle to hang on to them, the harder it is to do

One thing though that can often do it is being outside. I don’t mean just going and standing in the garden for a while instead of sitting watching repeats of Storage Hunters, (although that’s a good start), I mean actually outside, in coats and wellies, getting wet and muddy, breathing in the salty air straight off the sea or collecting bugs from the forest floor.

Skogstad outdoor clothes for kids competition

You know when you’re properly outside as your cheeks start to tingle and you feel warm even though it’s cold. The wind may be blowing your hair into your obligatory Mr Whippy, but you feel alive, like anything is possible. When you finally come back indoors you feel refreshed and tired all at the same time and a cup of tea, feet curled up underneath you on the sofa, muddy wellies left at the door, is suddenly the most wondrous thing in the world.

Today’s competition is all about helping you to achieve that glorious windswept Mr Whippy feeling, by kitting out your kids in jackets and fleeces from Skogstad, ready to explore the beauty of the British countryside, or any sort of countryside you like really.

Skogstad is Norway’s number one outdoor clothing brand for the family. Hitting the UK shores last year they’ve already proved popular with families who like to be out in the fresh air, weekend warriors, walkers and mums on the school run! With over 75 years’ experience in making clothes for all climates and conditions they know a bit about how to keep dry, warm and insulated and at prices that won’t break the bank. Reviewers are loving the quality and durability of Skogstad clothing – ranking them better than most of the other well know outdoor brands.

To be in with a chance to win two kids’ fleeces and two jackets, worth up to £200, simply complete as many of the Rafflecopter actions as you can before June 3rd.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*I’m not just boasting here, it really is an amazing skill. I can normally get to within about five minutes, wherever I am and whatever I am doing, even if I have just woken up. On Sunday we were out shopping, I guessed 1.38pm and it was 1.38pm. It’s a gift.

Disclosure – this is a sponsored post

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